Eat Well for Less has plenty to chew on but was distinctly overcooked: review

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As Eat Well for Less? (BBC One) returned for a fourth series of food-budgeting, the Riellys from Middlesex were in dire need of dietary help. All four family members had different eating habits, meaning mother Stacy cooked several separate suppers each evening. Father Adam lived on crisps and takeaways. Fussy 12-year-old Izzy survived on tomato soup. Eight-year-old Harry, who had Type 1 diabetes, snacked non-stop on sausages and other meaty treats.

They were squeamish about raw meat, bought ready-baked potatoes out of laziness and pre-grated cheese because “grating it would take hours”. The average UK family spends £81.40 per week on food. The Riellys were splashing out double that, which they could ill-afford.

Gregg WallaceCredit:
BBC

Enter presenters Gregg Wallace and Chris Bavin to poke around their fridge and spy on their supermarket trips – catching the parents munching on “mini toad-in-the-holes” before they’d even reached the checkout. Could they help the Riellys reduce their grocery bill?

Of course they could. This was mission TV, where failure isn’t an option. They found meals the whole family could eat together, cut out snacks and takeaways, and almost halved expenditure in the process.

Young Harry stole the show with his cheeky asides and grub-based glee. However, the format is repetitive and, at an hour, too long. There were only so many times the family could coo at tasty home-cooked food or express surprise at the savings made. The tenuous fact-finding films added little to the overall picture.

Most grating were the geezer-ish presenting duo, who backslapped, guffawed and called each other “mate”. Wallace has a reputation for shouting on MasterChef but his high-volume habit seemed even ruder when he was standing in a stranger’s kitchen, two feet away from them, still yelling.

Eat Well for Less? had plenty to chew on but was distinctly overcooked.